rowan

New summer, new dress. This was styled after a woodcut of Queen Elizabeth that is in Hubert Norris' book Tudor Fashion. She had a large standing collar and a smooth skirt over a spanish farthingale with hanging sleeves. I kept the main parts of the dress simple so as to not draw attention away from the beaded forepart and sleeves. I wear it with the silk partlet I made a while ago. The main fabric is a brown textured weave synthtic. It has the look and hand of light wool. The hanging sleeves and collar are lined with a changeable silk that goes light sage to light blue. The gold fabric is a cotton and metal fabric I got on sale at JoAnn's after christmas sale. It dosn't sparkle like lame. Just a subtle hint of gold. Lots of pearls, a beautiful pomander and girdle that my Mom made for me are the jewels. I made the really red velvet hat at the last minute. Once again I really should wear a ruff but I look so silly in one. My neck is not long enough. (This photo was taken after a full day at the faire. I think I made it out in a respectible manner this year.)

Detail of the sleeves. You can't see the proper color of the pearls. They are a soft blue. There is also amber buttons and red glass beads. All the ribbon ties end in metal charms that I got from a jewlery wholesale company. They have a good weight to them.

The back show the cut of the bodice. It has no underarm seam and that makes fitting a nightmare. I took the shape from the book A History of Costume by Kohler. What is interesting to me is that this shape is almost identical to the bodice shape of the 1860's. Right above the peplum you can see some buttons. I used them to take the strain off the bodice fabric. Rings are on the underside which I use to tie the skirt to the bodice. By the way, Dummy is smaller than me. This is much smoother on me.